"Animal shelters play a crucial role in our community. They create a safe space, provide medical care to countless animals in need, help reunite lost pets with their families and most importantly, they give abandoned and abused animals a second chance at life. I'm proud to be introducing this bill to create the first-ever federal grant program for animal shelters so that these pets waiting for their forever homes can receive the treatment and care they deserve, and we can recruit and retain more compassionate individuals to care for them in the meantime."